日本語

The old media (TV, radio, newspapers) and the new media (SNS, web content, other media)

The Hyogo Prefecture governor election was held on November 17th.
Former Governor Motohiko Saito won in a landslide.
Despite the relentless criticism campaign against former Governor Saito by the old media, he won in a landslide.
Since the Metropolitan Tokyo governor election, the old media’s attempts to manipulate public opinion haven’t been effective anymore.

This Hyogo Prefectural Governor election was held because former Governor Saito resigned during his term.
The reason for his resignation was that a no-confidence motion against former Governor Motohiko Saito was passed unanimously (by all political parties) in the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly.
Former Governor Saito re-ran in this Hyogo Prefectural Governor election to confirm the will of the prefectural citizens.

The old media seemed to be taking a stance in favor of former Amagasaki Mayor Kazumi Inamura.
This is because, until the election campaign began, we felt the old media was promoting the image of “the good Kazumi Inamura” versus “the bad Motohiko Saito”.
Furthermore, regarding former Governor Saito, the old media had been broadcasting content criticism even of his character before his resignation.
During the election campaign, in an extremely unusual situation, the mayors of the 22 cities in Hyogo Prefecture announced their support for Kazumi Inamura.

The old media had been broadcasting that Kazumi Inamura was leading until just before the governor election.
(Was the source of this confirmation the old media’s support base ? Or was it an attempt to manipulate public opinion ?)
Only just before the election, they had reported “‘Motohiko Saito is catching up”.

November 17th: Motohiko Saito Wins Election !!!
A majority of Hyogo Prefecture residents voted for Motohiko Saito.
Additionally, many expressed being fed up with the biased coverage by the old media.

What will the old media who reported that Inamura had the advantage, and the 22 mayors who declared her support, do now ?

How do the 22 mayors who rejected the new governor Motohiko Saito intend to collaborate with him going forward ?
Since the opinions of these elected mayors represent the will of the people, will they continue their municipal governance as anti-Saito governors ?
It is seriously questionable whether mayors can effectively administer municipal governments while taking an anti-governor stance.
If they intend to ignore their previous statements and collaborate with the governor, they should resign and confirm the will of the people through a mayoral election.

The old media claim that “unlike the new media, we are fair and neutral and correct.
After the election, one TV program stated that “the media is regulated by law” and “we must consider the public interest and plan various broadcasts for the future. Another TV program said that “once the election begins, fairness is guaranteed with fact-checking and verification. If there’s no fact-checking, we won’t broadcast it.” (For us, this sounds like typical media rhetoric.)
In other words, the old media claim that new media are untrustworthy fake contents.

The new media

It is an innovative platform where anyone can share content without requiring any special privileges. On the other hand, it is also true that there is a lot of content being shared that can be considered intentional fake news or Defamation.
Furthermore, regarding political content, almost all content is shared based on the personal political stance of the individual. This is not news reporting; it is being shared as their personal opinion.
Viewers understand this and select the content they choose to watch.
By the way, the old media that criticizes new media also reports news on new media platforms. Additionally, most of them distribute news as ad-supported content.
We emphasize this point because the volume of content that could be considered defamatory or politically biased being distributed by people associated with the old media is increasing.

The old media

For whose public interest is this, exactly ?
They claim to be fair and neutral without stating their own political stance. This is like saying “I am the center of the circle” while standing on the edge of it. In the new media, the political stance of the content distributor is clear, and the viewers are aware of it.
For example, the old media claims to produce programs with public interest while collaborating with a racist who made discriminatory remarks such as “(Councilor Takaichi is) Mr. Abe in drag.”
Regarding the issue of unreported political funding in the Liberal Democratic Party(hereinafter called LDP) of Japan member’s political funding reports, they reported daily as “slush fund Diet members” but when similar unreported political funding issues were found by members of the Reiwa Shinsengumi, the Constitutional Democratic Party(hereinafter called CDP) of Japan, or New Komeito, they were hardly reported as simple mistakes. Is this also producing programs while considering the public interest ?
This is the “fair and neutral” stance the old media claims.

Are old media regulated by law ?
Most people don’t distinguish between broadcasts during election campaigns and broadcasts outside those periods. Impressions are created through day-to-day broadcasts.
In other words, they are claiming fair and neutrality based solely on one point being regulated by law, without mentioning the manipulation of impressions created as a continuous line.

Is it true that the old media won’t broadcast anything unless they can confirm the facts ?
It’s a recurring issue, but is “taken-out-of-context news” that strings together parts of statements to advance the broadcaster’s political ideology accurate information that has been fact-checked ?
The old media often broadcast many things about former Governor Motohiko Saito. Did you have evidence for everything ?
Please disclose all evidence at the program that even the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly couldn’t identify.

Even in this situation, old media outlets comment that “elections leveraging social media influenced young people. For young people, the influence of new media that has more fake news is greater than it of the old media that broadcast true news”.
We feel there is no future for the old media who think that “only they broadcast accurate information.”

Many people compare programs and content between the old media and the new media on an equal footing, selecting information based on their own judgment. And this situation is expanding beyond just young people to a wide range of age groups.
The old media claim to “broadcast fairly and neutrally in the public interest” and “only broadcast confirmed facts,” while simultaneously distributing news that seems biased toward their own political ideology and news that could be seen as manipulate public opinion.
Despite the old media manipulating public opinion through their programs and content, they claim that many people trust new media too easily.

It is precisely this stance of the old media that is driving people toward the new media.

People associated with the old media are saying that “it is better to establish regulations for new media.”
Despite advocating for democracy, the old media claim that only they should be guaranteed freedom of speech, while general people should have their speech restricted.

Who can possibly trust the old media produced by people like this ?

Reference: THE SANKEI SHINBUN(2024/11/19)
https://www.sankei.com/article/20241014-ESWEJD3WQZE2XJLGMSTJKLZOKE

Reference: Sankei Sports(2024/1120)
https://www.sanspo.com/article/20241118-LF3G4435TFH5TKVATHUTPXHPBY

Reference: Sankei Sports(2024/11/20)
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2024/10/13/kiji/20241012s00041000260000c.html

Reference: THE SANKEI SHINBUN(2024/11/08)
https://www.sankei.com/article/20241030-KHO4FTIVKRIKJEZO3VDLIHSNZM

Reference: Daily Sport(2024/11/21)
https://www.daily.co.jp/gossip/2024/11/19/0018356884.shtml

Reference: NIKKAN SPORTS(2024/11/21)
https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202411180000465.html

Reference: NHK NEWS WEB(2024/09/28)
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20240919/k10014585671000.html

Reference: Asahi Shinbun(2024/11/21)
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASSCG25CQSCGPIHB00GM.html

Thanks.
2024/11/24 – 2025/12/21